The Minnesota Vikings are 3-3 coming out of the bye, and their three victories have included an overtime win (vs. the Carolina Panthers), a win on a field goal as time expired (vs. the Detroit Lions), and a comfortable win in regulation (vs. the Seattle Seahawks). Meanwhile, the defeats have included, wait for it, an overtime loss (at the Cincinnati Bengals), a loss on a missed field goal as time expired (at the Arizona Cardinals), and a comfortable loss in regulation time (vs. the Cleveland Browns).
Perfectly mediocre.
It’s a microcosm of the Vikings franchise over the last several years, particularly during the tenure of current head coach Mike Zimmer. Sure, Zimmer boasts a 67-50 record as head coach of the Vikings in a little over seven seasons, good for a .572 winning percentage. It’s nothing to scoff at.
But a closer look reveals that the Vikings have never been bona fide contenders to win a Super Bowl. At best, they were pretenders disguised as contenders with the help of luck.
Even in Minnesota’s historically great 2017 season, in which they finished with a 13-3 record, the Vikings benefitted from a season-long injury to Aaron Rodgers and tremendous injury luck on the defensive side of the ball. Ultimately, a play famously called the Minneapolis Miracle was required for that team to win a playoff game at home.
The rest of Zimmer’s tenure has been spent almost exclusively in the Wild Card race. Just good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to hang with the best teams in the NFL.
Minnesota’s mediocrity is a result of its process. Look no further than what the Vikings have done at the quarterback position. For as talented of a passer as he is, Kirk Cousins has limited the Vikings in their conquest for that elusive first Super Bowl. His massive contract forces the front office to save money elsewhere on the roster. It’s not a coincidence that Minnesota’s defense and offensive line almost instantly declined when Cousins was brought in. He sucked up much of that salary cap space.
Of course, paying a quarterback can be a worthwhile strategy if your face of the franchise continuously lifts the team to victories. Well, Cousins’ career record as a starting quarterback is now a perfectly mediocre 54-54-2, which includes a 28-24-1 mark with the Vikings since joining the team in 2018.
Remember, the Vikings had just finished with a 13-3 record and played in an NFC Championship game the year before Cousins’ arrival. In that first season, the Vikings finished 8-7-1. Mediocrity.
Cousins and the Vikings are a trick rather than a treat every year. Both fans and the front office fall for it. Think about it. Since he arrived, the Vikings have never truly competed for a Super Bowl. It took overtime to achieve the only playoff win for the Vikings in that time span. But, because they’re never terrible, they have just enough ammo to convince a large section of the fan base and the Wilf family of the old mantra that next year is the year.
Right or wrong, tanking seems to be the way to win in the modern NFL. The Cincinnati Bengals are currently the top seed in the AFC, just two years after posting the worst record in the league. It’s what can happen when you take the chance to draft a new franchise quarterback on a rookie contract and transition to a new head coach.
Unfortunately, the Vikings seem to be taking after the Marvin Lewis-era Bengals blueprint. From 2003 to 2018, Lewis was the head coach of the Bengals and won zero playoff games in that span. That’s right. He had a job as head coach of an NFL team for 16 seasons and never won a playoff game.
It begs the question. How many years did the Bengals waste having false hope in a coach that just wasn’t going to get it done? The same could be said for Andy Dalton, who was Cincinnati’s starting quarterback from 2011 to 2019 and only has yards and touchdowns to show for it.
The Vikings are slowly replacing the Bengals as the NFL’s team that is good enough to keep important people employed but not great enough to challenge the NFL elites for a Lombardi trophy.
This week, they have a chance to put themselves above .500 in front of a national audience. The matchup with the Dallas Cowboys begins a brutal stretch of games for the Vikings with four contenders in a row on the docket.
It’s time for Cousins and Zimmer to finally show that they’re more than mediocre. That they can carry a team to the promised land. That all these years of merely flirting with greatness haven’t been a tease.
But patience is running thin. Time eventually ran out for Lewis and Dalton in Cincinnati. When will it run out for Zimmer and Cousins?
